The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-02-02
THE NoRMANs GAVE CHARACTER TO rdE
ENGLISH PEOPLE.
Speech OF r. l.. Grier, Of Due West,
South Carolina.

Fashioned in the depth of Tme on. the
shores of the Black Sea, out of hard rocks, as
from which the rest OF mankind are formed,
were made n hardy, intrepid race OF men.
These iron-Wiled and rock k-sinewed men, with
their wives and their battle axes, started west-.'
ward to win lands and secure food. They came
the dark forests Of Germany, whose =
shades and awful gloom still linger round us
in hoary-headed Tradition. They drove the
wild beasts from their lairs and their dens,
they took their homes. But their love for ads !
venture allowed them not long TO remain III
one place. Westward, still westward. they held
their course. Forest could not hold them In
check, neither could river detaln them. dess.
tiny was driving them forward,-they were
fulfilling q divine commission n-conquering
and ps%png the world ,rH ThGTgh Von
him. yet Jehovah drove them forward: Ihey,
were following pillar Of fire though t9sS.
saw 1t not. They came to the shores OF the.
Baltic Sea and there they stopped for while.
These were The Goths-the ancestors Qf::the
SaXons and NoIrans. But many, many
years before. there came to this sea-girt land,
through the hazy German ocean. inc CeIts,
and conquered 1t, and in $50 the Saxons came
and almost swept the Cells out OF existence
But few Of them fled into the west where
their language with them. And there to-day
it still fingers in the Scottish Highlands, al nd
among the wild Irish-loath 70 give up its
last hold, ,-unbending and unyielding as the {,
people who spoke it. All The successive tides
of conquest that have rolled over England
have Jailed to dislodge 1t. ClinSing among the
wild crags 1t seems as II 1t can never be TORN.
out-aS naturalas the shrubs that grow on tho
noun tain heights. The Saxon language took
its place In great degree. yet the Gets have
made their impression on language and laws, +.
and much Of their blood Still hoWs III our.
veins Tile Saxon Language was spoken up to
the time Of William the Conqucror, who
brought with him the Norman-French.
And now let us try to show some influences
hat thpy HSprte0 England. we Will
first notice the languageand literature " no
are these Normans: .Northmen, Morse men;
coursed their veins that flowed in the Snxons.
But the Nornlans went into Gaul and con-
quered it, and settled in the Northern .partts
The Language spoken In The country ~ tnss. {.
time was n corrupted Latin. and the Norinan1 ,,
and Franks did not, like the saxon, drive me
inhabitants from the land but mingled with
them; and SO the language became com.
pound OF lhe Teutonic dialect, imported by>-
these conqucrOrS and the corrupt liatln al
ready there. Hence the Nurman- French IAN
guagc is closely related to The Latin. and so u
great many words of Latin origin which the
Normans used were introduced into Enslan1
by the Conquer This was one effect. All
our Latin derivatives enter through this
channel, and opened the way ior iutuse aGxel' M,,
opmcnt. What has the Latin done? With .
out II our Language would not have half liz
beauty, power, force, adaptation to AL Passiona
and moods pLiabiity or sxtent Mnnt Gtt,, pol
Take the Latin from Milton, and you strip,
him of his brightest .rohes-"no words OF
learned length and laundering sound" His
melody would die In harsh. grating gutteral.
We call the Latin and Greek languages
dead, but they are alive. They are the orna.
mcnt, beauty, life of our own dear mother
tonsuc. They are embalmcd forever In the
immortal works of Homer, and Virgil. and
scarcely less in Johnson and Milton. While
English lives Latin and Greek can never die
the soul Of our language. meant not to un-
dcrrate the Saxon. True. to this hour you
hear in it the roar or Northern seas. the thun-
der OF the polar storms. the battle cries Of he
rOrs; but from the South comes another, borne
upon the wings Of Zephyrs. laden with all the
power, strength, sIatcliness. beauty, sweetness
Of Greece and Rome; and for fierce battle
cries plants freedoms ensign and peace; for
the dark frown of the lowering storm. the
clear, bright sunlight; for the roar of North
ern seas. upheaved by angry winds, IT gives uS
the quiet, calm, blue ocean,-a bright mirror
beneath clear sky TO picture IT.. The Nor
mas brought these two. so seemingly antaeo-
nstic together, and married thcrn-thry arc
one. What language have We! With:
out the Intervention of the Normans these,
two foreign elements could never have been